After the demolition of the original West city gate of the city of Newport, the site was reclaimed and a hotel constructed.

On 4 November 1839 local politician and activist John Frost led a march of 3000 Chartists into the centre of Newport. Here he discovered several Chartists had been arrested and were held in the Westgate hotel. British Army troops protecting the hotel opened fire on the marchers, killing over 20 people and wounding 50 more.[2] Holes in the pillars at the entrance to the hotel are assumed, by some, to be bullet holes from the insurrection. This belief was reflected in the Manic Street Preachers' song "The View from Stow Hill."[citation needed] However, this is unlikely as the building was rebuilt in 1884.[3]

In 1884, the original hotel was demolished, and the present structure constructed. Designed by local architect E.A. Lansdowne, it incorporated six shops at ground floor level to increase the sites rental income, and placed a new five storey hotel on top, which was twice the floor size of the hotel it replaced,[4] and included the provision of an ornate ballroom.[5] Built by local builder John Linton, it was leased from its opening in 1886 to Samuel Dean of the Castle Hotel for twenty one years.[6] In recent times the building has been converted into an entertainment complex.

In 1991 three statues, 'Union, Prudence, Energy' by Christopher Kelly, commemorating the 1839 Chartist uprising were installed on Commercial Street at the front of the Westgate Hotel.[2] The hotel also featured in the now-destroyed Chartist Mural.

The building is currently on the Buildings at Risk Register as substantially unoccupied and beginning to cause concern. The main staircase and richly decorated public rooms are amongst the best surviving examples of their period.[7]